Communication system and wireless communication terminal device used therein

ABSTRACT

A communication system is provided whereby desired information can be transmitted in accordance with conditions and the application. The communication system includes a PHS terminal and a provider system that is capable of information communication with this terminal. The PHS terminal has a voice recognition section that receives voice from a microphone and recognises the received voice signal, an input device that selects the output form of the voice signal, a conversion section that converts the recognised voice signal with the selected output form, and a transceiver that transmits the converted voice signal to the provider equipment; the converted voice signal is further transferred from the provider system to another destination wireless communication terminal device. This output form includes for example “dialect”, “intonation/imitated voice of a celebrity etc.” or “modulation”. Conversion filters convert the voice signal in accordance with these.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a communication system provided with auser terminal connected through a communication network and atransmission server that sends prescribed information to a wirelessterminal such as a pager that expresses by means of characters or voiceinformation from a user terminal.

2. Description of the Related Art

In recent years, portable wireless terminals for individual use such asportable telephones, personal handy phone systems (PHS) and pagers havebecome common. With such portable wireless terminals, exchange of speechor data can be performed using wireless circuits.

Furthermore, as computer communication networks typified by the Internethave become widespread, data communication between computers has becomeeasy.

In this connection, a technique has been proposed whereby, with aportable telephone or PHS (sending-side wireless terminal), voice dataor character data is sent to the server on the provider side through theInternet and this server sends prescribed information based on the voicedata and/or character data that it receives to the receiving-sidewireless terminal (for example, a pager). In this technique, it isdesirable that the sending terminal device should be capable oftransferring prescribed information to the receiving wireless terminal.

For example, in Early Japanese Patent Publication No. H.3-289854, anelectronic mail system is disclosed in which a voice input mark isinserted in received mail and the received mail is read out loud at thereceiving end; when the voice input mark is detected, reading out loudis interrupted, and reply information can be received by putting thevoice input mechanism into operable condition. With this system,received electronic mail can be listened to by ear and a reply theretocan be input by voice, so the effort required in replying can bereduced. Also, an electronic mail system is disclosed in which, sinceinput can be effected by voice, replies can be sent from telephones andreplies from the destination are possible.

In this system, the correspondence between the message information ofthe electronic mail and the voice information is one-to-one and themessage information is uttered by being converted for example intostandard speech. Of course, with this method also, it is informationthat is transmitted. However, if it is sought to transmit informationmore precisely, the difference between character message information andvoice information must be considered. Specifically, although theintention to be transmitted is expressed by the characters contained inthe message information, the intention that is expressed is subtlychanged by selection of voice, selection of feeling of urgency, andselection of emotional expression of mood, in addition to the characterscontained in the voice of the voice information that is uttered. Forexample, even the same expression, which, if pronounced clearly might berather strong, if said rather more softly, becomes a more gentleexpression. Consequently, in order to accurately express the intention,it is desirable to be able to represent emotional expressions such astone colour, feeling of urgency and mood.

Also, when information is transferred from a sending wireless terminalthrough the server at the provider end to another terminal, in order tocompress the amount of data, it is desirable that, rather than simplysending the voice or characters without modification, it should bepossible to convert the voice or characters, depending on the conditionsand the application. And for example, many varieties of humorousexpression are possible by using for the language, instead of standardspeech, Tohoku dialect or Kansai dialect etc. or languages such asEnglish, French, German, Russian or Chinese.

Also, it is desirable that the user should be able to receive desiredinformation independently of the type etc. of the receiving terminaldevice.

Furthermore, since the performance and efficiency of processing changedepending on whether the processing is performed at the terminal or theserver at the provider end, a suitable apportionment of roles isnecessary.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An object of the present invention is to provide a communication systemand wireless communication terminal whereby intentions can betransmitted more accurately. A further object of the present inventionis to provide a communication system and wireless communication terminalwhereby desired information can be transferred independent of the typeetc. of the receiving terminal.

A communication system according to the present invention comprises atleast one wireless communication terminal device and provider equipmentcapable of information transmission between itself and this wirelesscommunication terminal device wherein the wireless communicationterminal device includes a transmission section that sends messageinformation and selection information for selecting the form of outputof the message information and the provider equipment includes aprocessing section that outputs the message information in an outputform in accordance with the selection information. Intentions can bemore accurately transmitted by means of the selection information.

A wireless communication terminal device according to the presentinvention comprises a voice identification section that identifies aninput voice signal and converts it to message information and atransmission section which receives the message information andselection information for selecting the output form of the messageinformation, and sends these.

According to the present invention, a voice signal is recognised by awireless communication terminal and its output form is converted asdesired and the converted voice signal is transferred through theprovider equipment to another, destination wireless communicationterminal device. In this way, sound quality of the input voice can beguaranteed since the voice is recognised by the wireless communicationterminal device at the sending end; it is therefore possible to improvethe voice recognition rate. Also, since conversion of the output form isperformed by the wireless communication terminal device, this conversiondoes not require authentication by the provider equipment.

Furthermore, since conversion of the output form of the voice isperformed at the wireless communication terminal device at the sendingend, communication time with the provider equipment can be cut and, as aresult, service charges can be reduced.

Even if, with this system, the output form conversion is effected by theprovider equipment, voice recognition is performed by the wirelesscommunication terminal device constituting the sending end. As a result,the voice recognition rate is not impaired.

A wireless communication terminal according to the present inventioncomprises: a voice identification section that identifies an input voicesignal and converts it to message information; a table whereby acorrespondence is set up between characters and numerals, and/or setphrases and a code matching the sending party; a code conversion sectionthat refers to this table so as to be able to reproduce at the sendingend the characters, numerals and/or set phrases constituting thecharacter series of the message information and converts these to aprescribed code; and a transmission section that receives the convertedcode and the selection information that selects the output form of themessage information and that sends these.

Further, objects of the present invention are achieved by a wirelesscommunication terminal device comprising the above construction.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the layout of a communication systemaccording to a first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the layout of a communication systemaccording to a first embodiment of the present invention when a messageis reproduced in voice;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the layout of a communication systemaccording to a first embodiment of the present invention when a messageis sent by characters;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the layout of a communication systemaccording to a first embodiment of the present invention when electronicmail is sent;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram according to a first embodiment illustratingthe layout of a PHS terminal;

FIG. 6 is a flow chart according to a first embodiment in voice modeshowing the processing performed at the PHS terminal;

FIG. 7 is a flow chart according to a first embodiment under mail modeshowing the processing performed at the PHS terminal;

FIG. 8 is an example showing the content of electronic mail sent to amail server from a terminal;

FIG. 9 is an example of the content of electronic mail from a mailserver when a message is reproduced by voice;

FIG. 10 is an example of the content of electronic mail from a mailserver when a message is transferred to electronic mail;

FIG. 11 is an example showing the content of electronic mail from a mailserver when a message is transferred to electronic mail;

FIG. 12 is an example of the format of tone colour recorded beforehandin the server;

FIG. 13 is an operating example in accordance with the screen of a firstembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 14 is an operating example (continued) in accordance with thescreen of a first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 15 is an operating example (continued) in accordance with thescreen of a first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 16 is an operating example (continued) in accordance with thescreen of a first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 17 is an operating example (continued) in accordance with thescreen of a first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 18 is a flow chart showing the processing executed by the PHSterminal and provider server according to a second embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 19 is a block diagram showing the layout of a communication systemaccording to a third embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 20 is a block diagram showing the layout of a PHS terminalaccording to a third embodiment;

FIG. 21 is a view given in explanation of the data stored in memoryaccording to a third embodiment;

FIG. 22 is a flow chart showing the operation of a PHS terminal 112according to a third embodiment; and

FIG. 23 is a view given in explanation of a code conversion table inmemory according to a third embodiment.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS First Embodiment

1. Outline description of the system

Embodiments of the present invention are described below with referenceto the appended drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the outlineof a communication system according to a first embodiment of the presentinvention. As shown in FIG. 1, communication system 10 comprises: atleast one PHS (Personal Handy-phone System) terminal 12; a PHS terminalstation 14 that repeats a signal from PHS terminal 12; a circuit network16 such as ISDN; a provider system 18 that sends a prescribed signal toanother terminal based on a signal received through PHS base station 14from PHS terminal 12; circuit networks 20, 22, 24 constituted by forexample PSTN-ISDN or the Internet; a sending-side mail server 26; and auser terminal 28 such as a personal computer. Terminal 12 is notrestricted to a PHS and could be an alternative performing the samefunction. Also, in FIG. 1, ISDN is employed as a circuit network 16, butthere is no restriction to this. The same would apply to another circuitnetwork.

Provider system 18 comprises: a remote server 30 connected to circuitnetwork 16; a telephony gateway server 32 that outputs signals to asubscriber telephone, PHS terminal or portable telephone (not shown)through a circuit network 20; a mail server 34 that sends mail to a mailserver 26 through a circuit network 22; and a pager transmission server36 that sends signals indicating character series etc. to pagers,portable terminals capable of receiving messages or to a fax through acircuit network 24.

The communication system of FIG. 1 has a total of three operating modes:reproduction of a message by voice, sending of a message by characters,and sending by electronic mail. These modes are illustrated in moredetail by the functional block diagrams of FIG. 2˜FIG. 4.

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of message reproduction by voice.In FIG. 2, a voice signal converted by a microphone 1201 is convertedinto a transmission character sequence (message information) by voicerecognition section 1202 and is then input to electronic mailtransmission section 1203. Transmission information input indicating thetransmission destination, such as telephone number, is also input.Selection information for selection of the output mode of the messageinformation is also input to the transmission electronic mail sendingsection 1203. For example as shown in FIG. 2 this consists of charactersequence type selection information for selection of the type ofcharacter sequence such as dialect or language and tone colour typeselection information for selection of the type of tone colour such asemotion. These data are arranged into a prescribed format and output toa modem/TA (Terminal Adapter)/PIAFS 2104, whence they are sent throughtransmitter 1205.

The message information and its selection information that are receivedby provider system 18 through the communication network, when a messageis reproduced by voice, are input to gateway server 32 through remoteserver 30 and mail server 34. The data received by this electronic mailreceiving section 3201 is separated into transmission charactersequences, character sequence conversion type data, tone colourconversion type data, and transmission information. Character seriesconversion section 3202 performs on the transmission character sequencea conversion specified by character series conversion type data inaccordance with database 3203, for example translation from Japaneseinto English or conversion of standard Japanese into Kansai dialect(this will be described later). Next, voice synthesis/voice conversionsection 3204 converts the data into voice signals by performing knownvoice synthesis on the character sequence converted in accordance withdatabase 3205 and applies to it prescribed expression (emotionalexpression etc.) in accordance with the voice conversion type data (thiswill be described later). After this, the voice signal is sent to theindicated party through a network connection device 3206 and PSTN 20.

FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram of the case where a message is sentby characters. The layout of terminal 12 is practically the same as inthe case of FIG. 2, the difference lying in the fact that tone colourtype selection information is not input to electronic mail transmissionsection 1203. This is because, in the case of characters, tone colourinformation cannot be applied.

In the case where a message is sent by characters, message informationand its selection information received by provider system 18 through thetransmission network are input to a pager transmission server 36 throughremote server 30 and mail server 34. Pager transmission server 36 ispractically the same as gateway server 32 of FIG. 2 but, in accordancewith the fact that, as described in the case of FIG. 3, voice typeselection information is absent, it does not perform voicesynthesis/voice conversion processing.

FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram of the case of electronic mailtransmission. It is the same as FIG. 3 in that tone colour typeselection information is not input to electronic mail transmissionsection 1203 at terminal 12.

In the case of sending electronic mail, message information and itsselection information that are received by provider system 18 throughthe communication network are not input to mail server 34 through remoteserver 30. A character sequence that has been subjected to a prescribedconversion by character sequence conversion section 3402 is sent to theInternet 22 by an electronic mail transmission section 304.

A brief description has been given of the operation of the communicationsystem shown in FIG. 1˜FIG. 4. As is clear from the above description,with this system, the output form at the receiving end can be selectedat the transmission terminal end. Also, with this system, informationdesignating the output form at the receiving end (electronic mail, voicemail, tone colour etc.) is sent by the message transmission end(terminal) and a message of prescribed form is output in accordance withthe output form designation information at the receiving end (providerequipment). With this system, in the electronic mail or voice mail, amessage can be output with conversion effected to emotional expressionof its tone colour, feeling of tension, or mood and to expression ofpeculiarities such as dialect.

It should be noted that, in FIG. 1˜FIG. 4, the reason for the provisionof a voice recognition (voice data conversion) terminal at the terminalend is as follows. Since the data can be sent in compressed form, theconnection time is shorter than if the voice data were sent withoutmodification, and this is therefore more economic. Since transmission iseffected bundled in electronic mail form, processing can be performed ina much shorter time than in the case where a voicerecognition/conversion section for electronic mail compilation isprovided in the server. In particular, since, in the case of thissystem, the output form at the receiving end (sound quality etc.) isdetermined by the sending terminal, the provision of a voicerecognition/conversion section at the terminal is particularlyimportant.

2. Explanation of the operation of the constituent elements of thesystem

Next, the operation of the elements constituting the system will bedescribed.

PHS terminal 12 has the following functions.

(1) It is provided with a voice recognition function. Consequently, akeyboard or character input pad is unnecessary, making it possible tominiaturise the terminal.

(2) It is provided with an RCR STD28 function (second generationcordless telephone system reference standard).

(3) It is provided with a 32 kbps data communication function underPIAFS.

(4) It is provided with PPP and TCP/IP.

(5) It is provided with an SMPT function, so as to be capable of sendingelectronic mail.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing the construction of a PHS terminal 12according to a first embodiment in more detail. As shown in FIG. 5, PHSterminal 12 comprises: a microphone 40 that receives voice emitted bythe user; a transceiver 42 that transmits voice signals etc. throughantenna 46 or that receives these through the antenna; a speaker 44 thatemits voice based on the voice signal that it receives; antenna 46; acontrol section 48 that controls the operation of PHS terminal 12 inaccordance with the necessary program for PHS terminal 12; a voicerecognition section 50 that specifies the emitted voice (charactersequence) by recognising a voice signal applied to microphone 40; amemory 54 that stores the program and necessary data; an input device 56comprising numeric keys and various function keys; and a display device58 comprising LCDs.

Voice recognition section 50 recognises a voice signal that it receivesand specifies the character sequence constituting the voice. Also,control section 48 analyses the recognised character sequence andanalyses the structure of this character sequence, and then performs aselected conversion on the character sequence to thereby compile aconverted character sequence. It should be noted that the charactersequence conversion section could be provided either at the terminal orat the server. As will be described, in this embodiment, this conversionmay include: (1) conversion to a corresponding dialect; (2) conversionto an intonation and/or manner of speaking mimicking a celebrity orcartoon character; (3) conversion to a designated modulation; or (4)translation.

Of these, in order to implement (2) or (3), the techniques disclosed infor example Early Japanese Patent Publication No. H.2-106799 and/orEarly Japanese Patent Publication No. H.2-236600 may be employed. Also,in order to implement (1), a prescribed conversion table may be providedin memory 54, as will be described.

Operation of a PHS terminal 12 constructed in this way is described inmore detail below. Normally, at PHS terminal 12, voice signals suppliedto the microphone by a user are sent by means of transceiver 42 throughan antenna to the PHS base station 14 and are further transmittedthrough this base station 14 to the subscriber telephone of an address(dialling number) that was previously input, or to a PHS terminal etc.Also, when voice signals from PHS base station 14 are received bytransceiver 42, the corresponding voice is emitted from speaker 44.

In this way, apart from ordinary speech, a PHS terminal 12 according tothis embodiment can transmit through provider system 18 the followingvarious types of information.

Specifically, (A) voice can be transmitted through the gateway server 32for telephony to other subscriber telephones, PHS terminals or portabletelephones. (B) Electronic mail can be transmitted to a user terminal 28through a mail server 34. (C) Prescribed messages can be transmittedthrough a pager transmission server 36 to a pager, portable terminalcapable of message reception, or to a fax etc.

Consequently, apart from ordinary speech mode, a PHS terminal 12 fortransfer of information by the above three paths can operate inaccordance with any of the following: a mode for transmitting voiceusing a telephony gateway server (hereinbelow called “voice mode”); amode for performing transfer of electronic mail (hereinbelow called“mail mode”) and a mode for performing transfer of messages (hereinbelowcalled “message mode”).

Also, under voice mode, as described above, voice emitted by the usercan be (1) converted to a corresponding dialect (2) converted to amimicked intonation and/or imitated voice or (3) the modulation thereofmay be converted. Likewise, under mail mode or message mode, the voiceemitted by the user can be used to (1) compile mail converted to acorresponding dialect.

(A) Operation of a PHS terminal under voice mode and a provider systemin response thereto

First of all, the operation of a PHS terminal etc. under voice mode willbe described. FIG. 6 is a flow chart showing the processing which isexecuted under voice mode. The processing of FIG. 6 is actuated byoperation of a mode setting key (not shown) in input device 56. First ofall, the user utters a desired character sequence (phrase) towardsmicrophone 40 (step 301). Voice that is generated by this user istransferred to voice recognition section 50 and voice recognitionsection 50 and voice recognition section 50 recognises the input voiceand specifies (step 302) characters and/or numerals constituting thischaracter sequence (phrase). The information relating to the specifiedcharacters and/or numerals is stored in a prescribed region of memory 54by control section 48.

Next, the user designates emotion information indicating the modulationof the voice that is to be sent (step 303) by operating prescribedfunction keys (not shown) of the input device 56. In this embodiment,the modulation includes “anger”, “joy”, “sadness”, “threatening” and“fear”.

The method of expressing motion in voice will now be described.According to a published reference: Katsuki Okamoto et al “Study ofExtraction of Audio Characteristics Expressing Basic Motions”, ArticleNo. SA-6-3 of the Electronic Information Communication Association ofJapan Spring Congress, 1993, the elements expressing emotion in voiceinclude time structure, acoustic pressure, pitch period, and spectrumenvelope. As a result of analysis for each vowel of speech under theemotions “sadness”, “no emotion”, “threat”, “joy” or “anger”, it isfound that, in the case of anger and joy, the pitch period becomesshorter than in the case of no emotion, the changes for the individualvowels being very similar. Also, in the case of sadness, the pitchperiod is longer than in the case of no emotion and the fluctuations ofthe individual vowels are few. Also, as a result of analysis of thetotal vowel interval, it is found that, while anger and joy show similarpitch periods, in the case of anger the effect of higher harmoniccomponents is more pronounced. These results are summarised in FIG. 5 ofthis article. Specifically, if high-frequency power and pitch period aretaken as characteristic quantities, “sadness” has the lowest highfrequency power and longest pitch period. In contrast, “anger” has thehighest high frequency power and shortest pitch period. “No emotion”,“threat” and “joy” come between these. Roughly speaking, “sadness”, “noemotion”, “threat”, “joy” and “anger” are arranged in that order in thehigh-frequency power/pitch period plane. Consequently, in order toexpress emotions in synthesised voice, for example high frequency powerand pitch period may be suitably selected in accordance with the emotionas described above.

After this, the user may specify (step 304) dialect/imitationinformation indicating the dialect and mimicked intonation/imitation ofthe voice to be transmitted, by again operating a function key (notshown). In this example, the dialect includes “Kansai dialect”, “Kyotodialect”, “Tokyo dialect” and “Tohoku dialect” while theintonation/imitation includes intonation/imitation of celebrities, orintonation/imitation of cartoon characters.

Also, in addition to the technique described above, dialect can beimplemented using a conversion table provided in memory 54.

For dialect, there is provided in memory 54 a dialect conversion tablein which are stored the expressions in each dialect corresponding todialogue items in standard Japanese. For example, corresponding to thedialogue item “Arigato Gozaimasu” [Thank you], data expressing thephrase “Maido Ooki” [Thank you] in the Kansai dialect is stored. Also,regarding imitated speech, in memory 54 there is stored for each phonemevoice data of a celebrity or cartoon character.

Using the data stored in memory 54, the converted voice is temporarilystored in another prescribed region of memory 54 by control section 48.Next, data transmission section 60 in transceiver 42 is actuated by theuser specifying the transmission destination (step 306) and designatingtransmission, and the voice (voice data) that is read from the otherprescribed region in memory 54 by control section 48 is supplied to datatransmission section 60 and this is transmitted by data transmissionsection 60 through antenna 46 to PHS base station 14 (step 307). Itshould be noted that the data that is sent, apart from the main body ofthe voice data, has attached to it a header indicating that itconstitutes voice (i.e. that it is data compiled under voice mode).

Also, in step 306, the transmission time can be designated. In thiscase, step 307 is executed at the designated time. Also, in step 306, itwould be possible to designate the priority of the information that isto be sent. For example, transmission to transmission server 18 may beeffected by setting up four priority levels (1: maximum priority, 2:priority, 3: normal, 4: any time) and attaching these to the data. Inthis case, the transmitting server, when voice is to be sent to adestination PHS terminal etc., may first of all send this priority levelto the remote party.

PHS base station 14 sends data that has been accepted through circuitnetwork 16 to provider system 18. In provider system 18, data is firstof all accepted by remote server 30 and then sent to mail server 34.Mail server 34 checks the data header and if it finds that thisconstitutes date compiled under voice mode, in accordance with thisdetermination, sends the data to telephony gateway server 32. Inresponse to this, telephony gateway server 32 sends the data (voicedata) with which it has been supplied to the destination subscribertelephone, PHS terminal or portable telephone.

In this way, voice that has been compiled by PHS terminal 12, altered inrespect of modulation and/or intonation/imitation and/or converted to acorresponding dialect is sent to another subscriber telephone, PHSterminal or portable telephone through provider system 18.

B) Operation of the PHS terminal under mail mode and of provider systemin response thereto

Examples in which conversion of characters is performed at the terminalor server are described below.

Next, a description of the operation of a PHS terminal etc. under mailmode will be given. FIG. 7 is a flow chart showing the processingexecuted under mail mode. The processing of FIG. 7 is actuated byoperation of a mode setting key (not shown) in input device 56. In FIG.7, the processing of steps 401 and 402 respectively corresponds to theprocessing of step 301 and 302 in FIG. 6 so a description thereof isomitted. After the characters and/or numerals constituting the characterseries (phrase) corresponding to the input voice have been specified,the user operates a function key (not shown) to specify the dialect intowhich the voice that is to be sent is to be converted (step 403). Underthis mail mode, just as in the case of voice mode, for example thedialects “Kansai dialect”, “Kyoto dialect”, “Tokyo dialect”, or “Tohokudialect” are available.

When specification of the dialect in step 403 has been completed,control section 48, by referring to the dialect conversion table inmemory 54, converts the relevant dialogue item into the correspondingdialect (step 404). When conversion of the character sequence has beencompleted, the user designates the transmission destination anddesignates transmission (steps 405, 406). The processing of these steps405 and 406 respectively correspond to the processing of steps 306 and307 of FIG. 6, so a detailed description is omitted. Apart from the mainbody of the data of the character sequence, the data to be sent also hasadded to it a header indicating that it constitutes mail (i.e. that thedata was compiled in mail mode).

PHS base station 14 sends the accepted data through circuit network 16to the provider system 18. In provider system 18, first of all, remoteserver accepts the data and then sends it to mail server 34. Mail server34 checks the header of the data and concludes that this is that of datacompiled under mail mode; in accordance with this conclusion, userterminal 28, which is the destination of the mail, receives the mailthat was accepted by mail server 26; the character sequence compiled byPHS terminal 12 can thereby be received.

In this way, voice compiled by PHS terminal 12 and converted into acorresponding dialect is transmitted to another user terminal 28 throughprovider system 18. It should be noted that transmission time andpriority level could be set in step 405 in the same way as in the caseof voice mode.

C) Operation of PHS terminal under message mode and provider system inresponse thereto

Next, the operation of a PHS terminal under message mode will bedescribed. The processing of a PHS terminal under this mode ispractically the same as that shown in FIG. 7. Specifically, apart fromthe main body of the data of the message, a header indicating that thisis a message (i.e. that the data was compiled under message mode) isadded to the transmitted data.

PHS base station 14 that has accepted data from PHS terminal 12 sendsthe data that it has accepted to provider system 18 through circuitnetwork 16. In provider system 18, first of all, the data is accepted byremote server 30 and transmitted to mail server 34. Mail server 34checks the data header and concludes that this is data compiled undermessage mode and, in accordance with this conclusion, sends the data topager transmission server 36. Pager transmission server 36, in responseto this, sends the data (message) with which it has been supplied to thepager constituting the destination. Of course, just as in the case ofthe other modes, message mode could be set up such that the transmissiontime and priority level are set at the PHS terminal so that providersystem 18 can operate in accordance therewith.

3. Operating example

In order to facilitate understanding of the present invention, anexample of processing including an operating example is indicated.

(Processing at the terminal)

(1) First of all, the user of the terminal registers beforehand thefollowing information at the PHS terminal.

Telephone number of the PPP connection point

PPP account name: account name required when effecting PPP connection

PPP password: password required when affecting PPP connection

User: name of user for purposes of authenticating the user of thisservice

Pass: password for purposes of authenticating the user of this service

Mail1: Electronic mail address of transmission report destination whentransmission has succeeded. This must be designated in order for areport to be made when transmission has succeeded. Also, if it isomitted, mail cannot be sent.

Mail2: Electronic mail address of transmission report when transmissionfails. This must be designated in order for a report to be made whentransmission fails. Also, when omitted, mail cannot be sent.

(2) The user puts the PHS terminal in voice recognition mode

(3) The user speaks to the PHS terminal (corresponding to S301 above).

(4) The user stops the voice recognition mode of the PHS terminal.

(5) The speaker is digitally recorded at the PHS terminal, voicerecognition is performed, and conversion to characters is effected(corresponding to S302 above). These characters are held within theterminal as a message.

(6) After the user has indicated the following information to the PHSterminal, transmission is designated.

Number: the telephone number of the sending terminal is written.

As an exception, if type 1 is mail, the destination of the electronicmail is written (example: isao@xxx.yy.jp).

Type1: Designation of sending address. This may be by any of thefollowing.

Voice: Voice (to Telephony Gateway Server 1 (corresponding to GatewayServer 32)).

Mail: Electronic mail (to Mail Server 1 (corresponding to Mail Server34)).

Message: Message transmission

Type2: This consists in a specification of type1 in more detail.

It may be in accordance with any of the following.

When type1 is voice: voice is specified. For example the voice of acartoon character.

When type1 is mail: not specified.

When type1 is a message: the pager type, fax, type of portabletelephone, or PHS operator is specified.

Password: This is specified when a password is set at the terminal. Itcan be omitted.

Priority: the priority level of the message to be sent is written. Forexample this could be any one of 1: maximum priority, 2: priority, 3:normal, 4: any time.

Data1: When type1 is voice, data relating to emotion information isdesignated. For example, this can be any of anger, joy, threat, fear, ornormal (corresponding to the above S303).

Data2: Data regarding dialect (example: Kansai dialect) or peculiarities(for example: catch-phrases of a famous person) is designated(corresponding to the above S304). For example, this may be “Kansai”.

Time: the transmission time is entered. 10 o'clock on 13 September iswritten as 09131000. If it is omitted, transmission is effectedimmediately.

(7) The PHS terminal effects connection to the remote server 30 usingthe PPP and TCP/IP function (corresponding to S306 above).

When this is done, the PPP account name and PPP password are employed.

(8) The above content is sent as electronic mail by the PHS terminal tothe mail server 34 using SMPT (corresponding to S307 above).

The content of the electronic mail may be for example as shown in FIG.8.

(Processing at mail server 1)

The mail server sends mail in accordance with the content of type1.

(1) When type1 is voice: the content of the incoming mail is sent to theprescribed destination address (Gateway Server 32).

(2) When type2 is mail: the content of the incoming mail is sent to theaddress designated in type2. The content of the mail is that designatedby the message.

(3) When type3 is message: the content of the incoming mail is sent tothe prescribed destination address (pager transmission server 36).

(Processing at Gateway Server)

(1) Mail as in FIG. 9 is sent from mail server 34.

(2) The “user” and “password” are checked to establish whether the useris genuine.

(3) When the time indicated by “time” is reached, the followingprocessing is performed.

(4) The telephone number specified by “number” is dialled.

(5) [The procedure] waits until the telephone connection is made.

If, after calling N times, the remote party does not answer or the lineis busy, redialling is effected after M minutes; if then afterredialling P times connection is still not effected, a message isreturned to the effect that transmission to the mail address designatedin mail2 failed.

(6) The priority level designated by “priority” is reproduced by voice.

(7) The message designated by “message” is reproduced with the tonecolour designated in type2. In the case of a kanji message, reproductionis effected after performing a kanji/kana character conversion.

(8) The voice reproduced in (7) is passed through a conversion filtercorresponding to the emotion of data1. Such a filter can be implementedby a neural network or a DSP.

(9) The voice of (8) is reproduced by a speaker. After the reproductionhas finished, the telephone connection is disconnected, and a message tothe effect that sending has succeeded is returned to the mail addressdesignated by mail1. If reproduction fails, a message to the effect thatsending has failed is returned to the mail address designated by mail2.The tone colour specified in type2 is recorded beforehand in the server.An example of the format is shown in FIG. 12.

(Processing at mail server 2)

(1) Mail as in FIG. 10 is sent from the mail server.

(2) “User” and “password” are checked to establish the genuineness ofthe user.

(3) At the time designated by “time”, the following operation isperformed.

(4) Electronic mail is sent of which the main text is the contentdesignated by “message”, whose address is the content designated by“number”. Also, information of priority level can be sent to the remoteparty by adding to the main text the sentence “priority level isordinary”.

(5) If transmission succeeds, a message to the effect that transmissionhas succeeded is returned to the mail address of mail1. If transmissionfails, a message to the effect that transmission failed is returned tothe mail address of mail2.

(Processing at the pager transmission server)

(1) Mail as in FIG. 11 is sent from the mail server.

(2) “User” and “password” are checked to establish the genuineness ofthe user.

(3) At the time indicated by “time”, the following operation isperformed.

(4) Main text whose content is designated by “message” is converted tothe format of the device type specified by type2 and sent to the addresswhose content is indicated by “number”. If at this point a password isspecified by “password”, the password is specified on sending.

(5) If transmission succeeds, a message to the effect that transmissionhas succeeded is returned to the mail address designated by mail1. Iftransmission fails, a message to the effect that transmission failed isreturned to the mail address designated by mail2.

(Example of on-screen operation)

If the terminal has a display screen, it may be arranged for operationto be performed whilst viewing the screen. An example of operation usinga screen is shown in FIG. 13˜FIG. 17.

First of all, a selection is made as to whether transmission is to beperformed by one or other of the methods: voice, electronic mail/fax, orcharacters (see screen P1 of FIG. 13). The selection is made by clickingusing a pointer such as a mouse. This method of selection is alsoapplied below. If the selection is to be re-done, “re-do” is clicked,then “next” is clicked.

If “characters” is selected, the transmission destination may beselected from one or other of PHS, portable telephone or pager (seescreen P2 of FIG. 13). To re-do the selection, “re-do” is clicked,causing the preceding menu item to be re-selected, whereupon “toprevious page” is clicked and then, next, “next” is clicked.

When the transmission destination is selected, a service provider isselected from one or other of service provider 1, service provider 2, orservice provider 3 (see screen P3) of FIG. 13). It should be noted thatthe number of service providers may change depending on which of theabove PHS, portable telephone or pager is selected. To re-do theselection, [the user] clicks on “re-do” and, when the previous menu itemis again selected, clicks on “to previous page” then, next, clicks on“next”. By means of this selection, restrictions may be imposedregarding the type of characters that may be input, limitation on thenumber of characters, or the types of set phrases etc.

When a service provider is selected, or when voice or electronicmail/fax is selected in screen P1 of FIG. 13, next, a message iscompiled (see screen P4 of FIG. 14). At this point, one or other of“voice recognition”, “key input” or “menu”can be input. When a messageis compiled by voice recognition, “voice recognition” is clicked and thevoice that is to be transmitted is input. When this is done, the resultof the voice recognition is displayed on the screen. On screen P4 ofFIG. 14 the message “today's meeting is at 10 o'clock. Please don't belate!” is displayed. Also, this character series can be corrected usingthe keyboard. In the case of menu input, the user clicks on “set phrasepull down menu” on this screen, whereupon a plurality of set messagesare displayed and a selection can be made by clicking on any one ofthese. To re-do, the user clicks on “re-do” and when the previous menuitem is re-selected clicks on “to previous page”, then, next, clicks on“next”.

When the user clicks on “next”, the message is evaluated and if thereare any characters that cannot be input, a message to that effect isdisplayed, whereupon either the entire text must be re-input or just theportion that could not be input.

If the input message contains no characters that cannot be input, thischaracter sequence is displayed on a subscreen (screen P5 of FIG. 14).If the previous menu item is re-selected, the user clicks on “toprevious page” then, next, clicks on “next”. When “next” is clicked, ifvoice is selected, [the procedure] advances to the screen of FIG. 15; ifelectronic mail/fax is selected, it advances to the screen of FIG. 16;and if “characters” is selected, it advances to the screen of FIG. 17,respectively.

If voice is selected, on the screen P6 of FIG. 15, emotion, tone colourand language/dialect can be selected. For “emotion” any of “normal”,“anger”, “joy”, “sadness”, “threatening”, or “fear” can be selected. For“tone colour” any of “normal”, or “tone colour 1”˜“tone colour 4” can beselected. For “language/dialect”, “normal”, “English”, “Chinese”,“Tohoku dialect”, or “Kansai dialect” can be selected. To re-do theselection, the user clicks on “re-do” and when the previous menu item isagain selected, clicks on “to previous page” then, next, clicks on“next”.

Next, the transmission priority level and transmission destination etc.are designated (see screen P7 of FIG. 15). There are five prioritylevels. The priority levels can be expressed by numbers or could beexpressed by letters such as: Urgent, ASAP, Normal, For your review, orPlease comment. The transmission destination number, the necessarypassword and the date and time of transmission are input from thekeyboard. The password and date and time of transmission can be omitted;if the date and time of transmission are omitted, transmission iseffected immediately. It is also possible to specify the contact pointto be notified when the message sending succeeds or fails. To re-do theselection, the user clicks on “re-do” and when the previous menu item isre-selected, clicks on “to previous page” and when sending clicks on“send”.

When electronic mail/fax is selected, emotion and language/dialect maybe selected by screen P8 of FIG. 16. Emotion may be selected fromnormal, anger, joy, sadness, threat, or fear. Language/dialect may beselected from normal, English, Chinese, Tohoku dialect, or Kansaidialect. To re-do the selection, the user clicks on “re-do”, and whenthe previous menu item is re-selected, clicks on “to previous page” andthen, next, clicks on “next”.

Next, the priority level and transmission destination etc. for thetransmission are specified (see screen P9 of FIG. 16). This processingis identical with that described above, so a description thereof isomitted.

If “characters” is selected, screen P10 of FIG. 17 is displayed. Theprocessing of screens P10 and P11 of FIG. 17 is the same as that in thecase of electronic mail/fax, so a description thereof is omitted.

With this embodiment, the PHS terminal recognises the input voice andconverts the recognised voice (or character sequence) into a prescribedform (for example, dialect, modulation, intonation/imitation) and sendsthe converted voice through a transmission server to another terminal(wireless terminal such as a PHS terminal, personal computer, pager orfax). In this way, the recognition rate of the voice can be improvedsince the sound quality of the input voice is guaranteed as the aboveprocessing is executed at the PHS terminal at the sending end. Also,since the processing such as conversion is executed at the PHS terminalat the sending end, the benefit is obtained that, compared with the casewhere conversion is effected by the provider system (server),authentication by the user is not necessary. Also, since the conversionprocessing is not performed at the provider system (server) end, PHSterminal service charges can be reduced.

Second Embodiment

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. Inthis embodiment, voice recognition and voice conversion are notperformed at the PHS terminal but are executed at the provider system(server) end. Specifically, of the constituent elements of the PHSterminal of FIG. 5, the conversion section and associated table inmemory 54 are provided at the transmission server 18.

In a system constituted in this way, the PHS terminal 12 performsprocessing as shown in FIG. 18(a) under all modes of (A) voice mode, (B)mail mode (C) message mode.

In FIG. 18(a), step 501 and step 502 correspond to step 301 and step 302of FIG. 6, so a description thereof is omitted. After the charactersand/or numerals constituting the character sequence (phrase)corresponding to the input voice have been specified, the user, byoperating a function key (not shown) sets various types of informationto be added to the information to be transmitted (step 503). As theinformation that may be set, apart from the setting of (A) voice mode,(B) mail mode or (C) message mode, when (A) voice mode is set, settingof emotion information, setting of dialect, and setting ofintonation/imitation is included, while, when (B) mail mode or (C)message mode are set, setting of dialect is included. Also, at thispoint, transmission time and priority level may be set.

After the information as to the various means has been set, the userspecifies the transmission destination and designates transmission(steps 504, 505). These steps respectively correspond to step 306 and307 of FIG. 6, so detailed description thereof is omitted. At thispoint, in the transmitted data, apart from the data main text of thecharacter sequence, there are provided a header indicating the set modeand/or various types of information (emotion information and/or dialectetc.).

Provider system 18, after accepting such data, performs the processingshown in FIG. 18(b). Specifically, the data of the accepted charactersequence are converted to data of prescribed form in accordance with thevarious types of information that are added (step 511).

For example, if the header indicates that the mode is (A) voice mode,this is converted to voice data in accordance with the appendedinformation (dialect, modulation, and/or intonation/imitation).Alternatively, if the header indicates that the mode is (B) mail mode or(C) message mode, this is converted into character sequence data inaccordance with the appended information (dialect). After the data to betransmitted has thus been obtained, this is sent to the necessarydestination, in accordance with the above mode, to telephony gateway 32,mail server 34 or pager transmission server 36 (step 512).

Although, in this embodiment, the conversion of voice and/or characterswas effected at the transmission server end, since voice recognition iseffected at the PHS terminal 12, an improved recognition rate can stillbe obtained just as in the case of the first embodiment.

Third Embodiment

Next, a third embodiment of the present invention is described. In thisembodiment, when a message compiled by PHS terminal 12 is sent toanother pager for example through the pager transmission server ofprovider system 18, PHS terminal 12 can transmit data taking intoaccount the type of pager.

FIG. 19 is a block diagram showing the layout of a communication systemaccording to the third embodiment; FIG. 20 is a block diagram showingthe layout of a PHS terminal according to the third embodiment. In thisembodiment, apart from ordinary speech, operation can be effected under(B) mail mode in which mail is transmitted and (C) message mode in whicha message is transmitted to for example a pager. Of course, it would bepossible to operate under (A) voice mode or (B) mail mode as in thefirst and second embodiments.

As shown in FIG. 19, transmission equipment 70˜72 of various types ofpager service providers can be connected through circuit network 24 tothe pager transmission server 36 of provider system 18 belonging to thiscommunication system 100. Also, pager 76 can receive data (messages)transmitted from the transmission equipment (for example referencenumeral 70) of the corresponding pager service providers.

In FIG. 20, structural elements that are the same as in the case of thefirst embodiment are given the same reference numerals. PHS terminal 112according to the third embodiment comprises, apart from microphone 40,transceiver 42, speaker 44, antenna 46, voice recognition section 50,input device 56 and display device 58, a control section 148 thatcontrols the entire PHS terminal 12, a memory 154 that stores theprogram and, in addition, necessary data, and a guide compilationsection 160 for compiling a guide for input purposes.

FIG. 21 is a view given in explanation of the necessary data that isstored in memory. As shown in FIG. 21, memory 154 comprises: guidancedata 162 corresponding to various types of guidance employed by guidecompilation section 160; code conversion table 164 for convertingcharacters or numerals input by voice into code matching the type ofpager etc. at the transmission destination; and a set phraseregistration table 166 in which are registered set phrases that havebeen set by the user.

The operation of a PHS terminal 112 constructed as above will now bedescribed. FIG. 21(a) is a flow chart showing the operation of a PHSterminal 112 according to this embodiment. As shown in FIG. 22(a), guidecompilation section 112 in PHS device 112 reads a prescribed one of theguidance data 162 in memory 154 and outputs the corresponding voice fromspeaker 44 (step 901). This guidance may consist for example of “Pleaseinput the message to be transmitted”.

Next, the input voice is applied to voice recognition section 50 throughcontrol section 148. Voice recognition section 50 recognises the inputvoice and specifies the characters and/or numerals that constitute thischaracter sequence (phrase) (step 902). In this way, in response tocompletion of specification of characters and/or numerals by voicerecognition section 50, guide compilation section 160 outputs fromspeaker 44 a further guidance item (step 903). This guidance item is forpurposes of setting various types of information. In this embodiment,these various items of information that are to be set include: the typeof information that is to be transmitted (mail or message: correspondingto mail mode or message mode in the first embodiment); the type ofdevice such as for example a pager that is the destination in the caseof message transmission; the address of the transmission destination;the transmission time; and the priority level.

For example, when the above information is set, the following variousitems of guidance may be emitted from speaker 44: “To send mail, pleasepress 1; To send a message, please press 2.”, “Please specify the typeof transmission destination device.”, “Please specify the transmissiontime.”, “Please input the destination address.”.

When the various types of information have been set in accordance withthis guide (step 904), control section 148 converts the charactersand/or numerals specified in step 902 into prescribed code (step 905) inaccordance with the type of device of the pager which is the destinationin the case of message transmission.

It is known that characters and/or numerals can be encoded andtransmitted by a pager or PHS terminal and can be displayed on thedisplay of a destination pager or PHS terminal. However, the codes forthe characters and/or numerals are different depending on the serviceprovider and also on the type of device of the pager or PHS terminal.

As shown in FIG. 23, in code conversion table 164, a code correspondingto each service provider and type of device is associated withrespective characters and numerals. For example, if the charactersequence that is input to PHS terminal 112 and recognised by voicerecognition is “AC” and the service provider corresponding to thedestination pager is “service provider 1” and the type of device is“device type 2”, the code after conversion becomes “A12 C12”.

The code that is obtained in accordance with the service provider andtype of device in this way is transmitted in response to designation oftransmission by the user (step 906).

Provider system 18 refers to the received data header and, if this ismail, mail server 18 transfers the data to the mail server 26corresponding to the transmission destination, through circuit network22 or, if the received data is a message to be transmitted to a pageretc., pager transmission server 36 sends the message to equipment 70 ofthe corresponding pager service provider through circuit network 24 witha request that it be transferred to its destination. In this way, amessage compiled by PHS terminal 112 is transferred to the destinationpager 76.

In this way, with this embodiment, PHS terminal 112 converts a charactersequence that was input using speech in accordance with the serviceprovider and device type corresponding to the destination pager, andoutputs the converted code. Consequently, even in the case where theservice provider and/or type of device to which the PHS terminal 112belongs are different from the service provider and/or type of device ofthe destination pager and/or PHS terminal, the necessary information canbe appropriately transmitted.

Furthermore, with this embodiment, the user can himself register setphrases and, if these set phrases coincide with set phrases previouslydetermined in accordance with the service provider or device type, canstore this information.

FIG. 22(b) is a flowchart showing compilation and registration of setphrases by a PHS terminal 112 according to this embodiment. Thisprocessing is actuated by the user operating a prescribed function key(not shown) to set up for example “set phrase registration mode”. Whenthe user supplies to the microphone voice corresponding to the desiredphrase, the characters and numerals constituting the character sequencecorresponding to this voice are specified by voice recognition section50 (step 911). Then, by means of the user inputting a numeral indicatingthe number of the set phrase by using a numerical key (not shown), theset phrase number and corresponding character sequence are stored in aprescribed region of memory 154.

In a pager or the like when, apart from codes that are determined foreach character or numeral (the so-called free messages), particularcodes and set phrases (messages) are predetermined, for example, themessage “Please ring” may be pre-associated with the code “10”.

In this embodiment, apart from the codes of each service provider andtype of device corresponding to characters or numerals, code conversiontable 164 stores codes for each service provider or type of devicecorresponding to set phrases (messages). Accordingly, the user candetermine whether any of the registered set phrases correspond with setphrases (messages) for each service provider or type of device and, ifthey do correspond, can associate these with the set phrases of a givenservice provider or type of device, and store data indicating thiscorrespondence in a prescribed region of memory 154 (step 912).

For example, if a user wishes to send a set phrase compiled by himself,after reading the corresponding phrase from set phrase registrationtable 166 of memory 154, control section 148 may execute the processingof steps 903 to 906 of FIG. 22(a). In this case, if the set phrase isassociated with a given set phrase of the service provider or type ofdevice corresponding to the destination pager, processing for codeconversion (step 905) may be dispensed with.

In this way, with this embodiment, the user can compile a desired setphrase and register this; the convenience of the PHS terminal canthereby be increased.

The present invention is not restricted to the above embodiments and canbe modified in various ways within the scope of the claims. Suchmodifications are of course included in the scope of the presentinvention.

For example, in the first embodiment, it would be possible to calldirectly another subscriber telephone, PHS terminal, or portabletelephone, and to send voice converted in accordance with dialect,modulation, intonation/imitation.

Also, by providing a conversion section in accordance with the firstembodiment at a PHS terminal according to the third embodiment,conversion based on dialect, modulation, intonation/imitation could beexecuted.

Furthermore, the present invention is not restricted to PHS terminalsbut could of course be applied to portable telephones and/or subscribertelephones. And apart from telephones it could be applied to so-calledmobile terminals.

Also, although in the first and second embodiments, “modulation”includes “anger”, “joy”, “sadness”, “threatening”, and “fear”, there isno restriction to this and expression of other emotions such as“teasing”, or “flattery” could be included.

Furthermore, in this specification, “means” does not necessarily implyphysical means and embraces the case where the functions of variousmeans are implemented by software. Moreover the function of single meanscould be implemented by two or more physical means or the function oftwo or more means could be implemented by single physical means.

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide acommunication system capable of transmitting desired information inaccordance with conditions and/or the application.

Also, according to the present invention it is possible to provide acommunication system capable of transmitting desired informationindependently of the type of device at the receiving terminal etc.

What is claimed is:
 1. A communication system comprising: at least onewireless communication terminal device and provider equipment capable ofinformation transmission between itself and this wireless communicationterminal device; wherein said wireless communication terminal deviceincludes a transmission section that sends message information andselection information for selecting the form of output of said messageinformation, and said provider equipment includes a processing sectionthat outputs said message information in an output form in accordancewith said selection information; at least any one of selection of tonecolor, selection of modulation, selection of emotional expression ofmood, selection of language and selection of dialect being selected bysaid selection information.
 2. A communication system according to claim1 wherein said wireless communication terminal device includes atransmission method selection section that selects one or othertransmission method of voice, electronic mail, facsimile message orcharacters.
 3. The communication system according to claim 1 whereinsaid wireless communication terminal device includes a transmissiondestination selection section that selects one or other transmissiondestination of Personal Handy Phone System, portable telephone or pager.4. The communication system according to claim 1 wherein said wirelesscommunication terminal device includes a priority level selectionsection that selects the priority level of said message information. 5.The communication system according to claim 1 wherein said wirelesscommunication terminal device includes a transmission time selectionsection that designates the transmission time of said messageinformation.
 6. The communication system according to claim 1 whereinsaid wireless communication terminal device includes a transmissionresult receiving section that receives the result of transmission ofsaid message information.
 7. The communication system according to claim1 wherein said provider equipment comprises an output form selectionsection that selects the output form of said message information inaccordance with said selection information and a voice conversionsection that effects conversion into voice of a selected output form;said output form selection section is constructed so as to select any ofintonation or imitation of a prescribed celebrity and/or character; andsaid voice conversion section is constructed so as to effect conversionto a voice signal and/or character sequence signal with selectedintonation or imitated voice.
 8. The communication system according toclaim 1 wherein said provider equipment comprises an output formselection section that selects the output form of said messageinformation in accordance with said selection information and a voiceconversion section that effects conversion into voice of a selectedoutput form; said output form selection section is constructed so as toselect any of modulations in accordance with prescribed emotions; andsaid voice conversion section is constructed so as to effect conversionto a voice signal of a selected modulation.
 9. The communication systemaccording to claim 8 wherein said modulation is based on any of theemotions: anger, joy, sadness, threat, and fear.
 10. The communicationsystem according to claim 8 wherein said voice conversion sectionchanges any of the time structure of the voice, the acoustic pressure,the pitch period and the spectrum envelope in accordance with saidmodulation.
 11. The communication system according to claim 8 wherein,if frequency power and pitch period are taken as the characteristicquantities, if said modulation is based on sadness, said voiceconversion section effects conversion to a voice signal having lowhigh-frequency power and long pitch period, and, if said modulation isbased on anger, said voice conversion section effects conversion to avoice signal having high high-frequency power and short pitch period,and, if said modulation is based on any of no emotion, threat and joy,said voice conversion section effects conversion to a voice signalhaving high-frequency power and pitch period intermediate between saidcase of sadness and said case of anger.
 12. The communication systemaccording to claim 1 wherein said provider equipment comprises an outputform selection section that selects the output form of said messageinformation in accordance with said selection information and a voiceconversion section that converts said message information into voice ofa selected output form; said output form selection section isconstructed so as to select any of prescribed dialects; and said voiceconversion section is constructed so as to effect conversion to a voicesignal in accordance with a selected dialect.
 13. The communicationsystem according to claim 1 wherein said provider equipment comprises anoutput form selection section that selects the output form of saidmessage information in accordance with said selection information and acharacter sequence conversion section that effects conversion to acharacter sequence of selected output form; said output form selectionsection is constructed to select any of a prescribed dialect and/orlanguage; and said character sequence conversion section is constructedso as to effect conversion to a character sequence signal in accordancewith the selected dialect.
 14. A communication system comprising: atleast one wireless communication terminal device and provider equipmentcapable of information transmission between itself and this wirelesscommunication terminal device; wherein said wireless communicationterminal device includes a transmission section that sends messageinformation and selection information for selecting the form of outputof said message information, said provider equipment includes aprocessing section that outputs said message information in an outputform in accordance with said selection information, and when ringing iseffected with a special-purpose call tone from said wirelesstransmission terminal at a receiving terminal device, said wirelesstransmission terminal transmits call tone information.
 15. Acommunication system comprising: at least one wireless communicationterminal device and provider equipment capable of informationtransmission between itself and this wireless communication terminaldevice; wherein said wireless communication terminal device includes atransmission section that sends message information and selectioninformation for selecting the form of output of said messageinformation, and said provider equipment includes: a processing sectionthat outputs said message information in an output form in accordancewith said selection information, an output form selection section thatselects the output form of said message information in accordance withsaid selection information; a character conversion section that convertssaid message information to a character sequence of selected outputform; a table whereby a correspondence is set up between characters andnumerals, and/or set phrases and a code matching the sending party; acode conversion section that refers to said table so as to be able toreproduce at the sending end of the characters, numerals and/or setphrases constituting the character series corresponding to said messageinformation and converts these to a prescribed code; and a transmissionsection that transmits the converted code.
 16. The communication systemaccording to claim 15 wherein said provider equipment further comprisesa second table that stores set phrases consisting of freely selectablecharacter sequences.